Reinas Academy leading girls’ football charge

REINAS ACADEMY has been making waves in the football community by earning a reputation of developing several junior national players and has now become one of the most prominent names in the development of girls’ football in Jamaica.

The girls’ football academy is the brainchild of Neo Oxford, alongside players Shaidne Rutherford, Dreanna Thaw, Lillian Clarke, Tyesha Nelson, and Venessa Stephenson.

Oxford explained that during the pandemic, he had been actively coaching these five players. As they struggled to find teams willing to host five-vs-five games, Oxford and his players saw the opportunity to create a girls’ football team.

He said despite being the founder, it was the group of five players who made the decision on the academy’s identity and were equally responsible for the team’s founding.

Rutherford, Thaw and Clarke have all moved on to colleges overseas with Nelson and Stephenson expected to follow their lead come August.

“Well, it started during COVID. I had a number of girls from the high school that I worked with that I saw having more potential, so I started with those five girls and we were training non-stop during COVID until we sat down and discussed that this could be something bigger.

“If you have five players, then you won’t have many teams that will want to play a 5v5. So we sat down and we discussed who were other talents that we wanted to bring in,” he added.

“So those five girls, they chose the name of the academy, they chose the motto, they chose the colours and despite being the person that leads Reinas, those five are the founders and whatever decision was made had to go through them first.”

As the academy built their numbers, the cost of daily operations and travel expenses for games became a prominent issue for Oxford.

They were able to attract sponsors due to their dominance on the field, and just last month, they announced a groundbreaking agreement with Hummel as the academy’s official kit sponsors.

Oxford said the deal is the first of its kind in women’s football in Jamaica and shows the level of interest Reinas has been able to build over the years.

“Hummel has seen what we’re doing and they’ve come on board,” he said. “They’re trying to get into the Jamaican market and they said Reinas was the best place to start. I said the other day to someone, ‘We’ve signed a three-year deal with Hummel, can you tell me any other football team in Jamaica who has done that?’ We are the flagship bearers of what football should be in Jamaica.

“So sponsorships are very important for our day-to-day, but we’re showing you that people are saying it’s very hard to get sponsors especially with female football but we continue to do it because we have a product that people can see deserves to be sponsored.”

Oxford also applauded the work being done by ISSA Construction, who have been their main sponsors since the academy’s founding. According to Oxford, ISSA Construction has covered the cost of coach’s salary, travel expenses and medical costs for players.

Reinas Academy will next be in action at the Youth Football League (YFL) ‘Girlz Can Play Too’ U13 5v5 football tournament later this month.

Gregory Bryce